This Buffett devotee is plowing billions into crypto

Capital Group is a 94-year-old mutualfund juggernaut known for its disciplined investing style. Mark Casey, a portfolio manager with 25 years of experience at the firm, quotes pioneering value-investor Benjamin Graham and says his "approach is very informed by Warren Buffett.

- Gregory Zuckerman

That is why it is so surprising that Capital Group has placed a huge bet on bitcoin—one of the largest by a mainstream investment firm—and that Casey has emerged as one of most outspoken backers of the digital currency in the so-called TradFi world.

"I just love bitcoin, I just think it is so interesting," Casey, 54, said on a podcast interview hosted by venturecapital firm Andreessen Horowitz last year, calling it "one of the coolest things that has ever been created by people."

In the past four years, Casey and his firm have turned less than $1 billion into more than $6 billion with investments in Strategy and other so-called bitcoin treasury companies whose sole focuses are loading up on the cryptocurrency.

Behind the bullishness: A view that bitcoin is replacing gold as a modern-day means of storing value—and will prove more useful than gold. Over time, bitcoin's price will rise, Casey and some others at Capital Group argue, catching up to or even exceeding the value of gold, which currently accounts for roughly 2% of global wealth according to some estimates. By contrast, Casey is dubious other cryptocurrencies will ever prove valuable, even as rivals pile into ether.